You arrive at a fire on the top floor of a building and the incident commander (IC) tells your company to get the roof or, as in some departments like the Fire Department of New York, you are assigned to the roof position. If you don't have a plan before you start, it is going to be a long assignment. The roof is a thinking firefighter's position, and you should always be ready to do the job when called. Photos 1-3. A four-story warehouse in Staten Island, New York, measuring 100 x 300 feet, had fire on the top floor. The roof team must understand that it is the IC's eyes on the roof. A cell phone antenna on the roof means there is a cell phone site with equipment on the roof. This is a twofold problem. First, the equipment will add weight to the roof, and any exposure of the supporting structural elements of the cell site will cause an earlier collapse than usual. The other issue for the roof team is that movement on the roof will be limited by cable raceways and equipment. The equipment can also limit the areas of the roof that can be vented if necessary.
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